New report names Ford Ranger as country’s most wanted used car

The previous generation Ford Ranger has emerged as South Africa’s most wanted used vehicle according to the latest mid-year used car report by AutoTrader.

Popular but missing

At an average of five year old priced at R433 371, the Ranger took top honours ahead of its arch rival, the Toyota Hilux, with the Volkswagen Polo placing third ahead of its sibling, the Polo Vivo, and the Toyota Fortuner.

Somewhat surprisingly, the popular locally assembled Toyota Corolla Cross doesn’t feature in the report, with the same applying to other top-selling monthly favourites such as the Toyota Starlet, Suzuki Swift and the now discontinued Toyota Urban Cruiser.

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“The top 10 most sold used models collectively represent 29% of all used models sold, which interestingly aligns with the same share of the most enquired models,” the report says.

“But a fairly significant disparity in rankings becomes apparent when one compares the most sold to the most enquired used models.

Local market resilience

Out of the most in-demand brands, Toyota ranked above rivals Volkswagen with collective sales of 28 061 versus 22 640. Ford took the final spot on the podium ahead of BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Also missing from the top 10 brands are Suzuki, currently the third best-selling new car marque, leading Chinese automakers Haval and Chery, as well as bakkie favourite Isuzu, whose D-Max finished 10th behind the Nissan NP200, the discontinued Ford EcoSport, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class on the list of best-selling used cars.

“In the first six months of 2023, over 263 million vehicle searches were conducted on AutoTrader. This translates into over 17 consumer searches per second. This is, of course, indicative of a segment of the automotive industry that is gaining momentum,” AutoTrader CEO George Mienie said.

“Despite numerous challenges, the South African automotive industry has shown remarkable resilience and progress. Collaborative efforts among carmakers, dealerships and tech giants have accelerated demand and supply, ensuring the industry’s competitive edge on a global scale”.

New car sales in July

Earlier this month, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) recorded an uptake of new car sales in July of 1.3% from last year’s 42 822 to 43 389.

In this instance, the new T6.2 Ranger placed third behind the Polo Vivo and Hilux, with the used report absentees, the Swift and Corolla Cross, placing fourth and fifth.

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